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“ Can’st not read it ? ” cried Ahab . “ Give it me , man . Aye , aye , it’s but a dim scrawl ; — what’s this ? ” As he was studying it out , Starbuck took a long cutting - spade pole , and with his knife slightly split the end , to insert the letter there , and in that way , hand it to the boat , without its coming any closer to the ship . Meantime , Ahab holding the letter , muttered , “ Mr . Har — yes , Mr . Harry — ( a woman’s pinny hand , — the man’s wife , I’ll wager ) — Aye — Mr . Harry Macey , Ship Jeroboam ; — why it’s Macey , and he’s dead ! ” “ Poor fellow ! poor fellow ! and from his wife , ” sighed Mayhew ; “ but let me have it . ” “ Nay , keep it thyself , ” cried Gabriel to Ahab ; “ thou art soon going that way . ” “ Curses throttle thee ! ” yelled Ahab . “ Captain Mayhew , stand by now to receive it ” ; and taking the fatal missive from Starbuck’s hands , he caught it in the slit of the pole , and reached it over towards the boat . But as he did so , the oarsmen expectantly desisted from rowing ; the boat drifted a little towards the ship’s stern ; so that , as if by magic , the letter suddenly ranged along with Gabriel’s eager hand . He clutched it in an instant , seized the boat - knife , and impaling the letter on it , sent it thus loaded back into the ship . It fell at Ahab’s feet . Then Gabriel shrieked out to his comrades to give way with their oars , and in that manner the mutinous boat rapidly shot away from the Pequod . As , after this interlude , the seamen resumed their work upon the jacket of the whale , many strange things were hinted in reference to this wild affair . CHAPTER 72 . The Monkey - Rope . In the tumultuous business of cutting - in and attending to a whale , there is much running backwards and forwards among the crew . Now hands are wanted here , and then again hands are wanted there . There is no staying in any one place ; for at one and the same time everything has to be done everywhere . It is much the same with him who endeavors the description of the scene . We must now retrace our way a little . It was mentioned that upon first breaking ground in the whale’s back , the blubber - hook was inserted into the original hole there cut by the spades of the mates . But how did so clumsy and weighty a mass as that same hook get fixed in that hole ? It was inserted there by my particular friend Queequeg , whose duty it was , as harpooneer , to descend upon the monster’s back for the special purpose referred to . But in very many cases , circumstances require that the harpooneer shall remain on the whale till the whole flensing or stripping operation is concluded . The whale , be it observed , lies almost entirely submerged , excepting the immediate parts operated upon . So down there , some ten feet below the level of the deck , the poor harpooneer flounders about , half on the whale and half in the water , as the vast mass revolves like a tread - mill beneath him . On the occasion in question , Queequeg figured in the Highland costume — a shirt and socks — in which to my eyes , at least , he appeared to uncommon advantage ; and no one had a better chance to observe him , as will presently be seen .
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